Chick-fil-A banned from Texas airport over anti-LGBT behaviour
A Chick
Fast food chain Chick-fil-A has been banned from opening a new location at San Antonio International Airport over concerns about the company’s record on LGBT+ issues.
The city council approved a seven-year concessions agreement for new restaurants and businesses in the airport, which included the chicken chain.
However, council members amended the plans to exclude the firm.
Council member Roberto Trevino said in a statement: “With this decision, the City Council reaffirmed the work our city has done to become a champion of equality and inclusion. San Antonio is a city full of compassion, and we do not have room in our public facilities for a business with a legacy of anti-LGBTQ behaviour.
“Everyone has a place here, and everyone should feel welcome when they walk through our airport. I look forward to the announcement of a suitable replacement by Paradies.”
In a statement issued to CBS, Chick-fil-A said it would welcome “thoughtful dialogue” with the San Antonio City Council and said it wished to have been given a chance to “clarify misconceptions”.
Protestors hold signs outside a Chick-fil-A fast food restaurant in Hollywood in 2012 (ROBYN BECK/AFP/GettyImages)
“Chick-fil-A embraces all people, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity,” the company said.
Anti-LGBT criticism
Chick-fil-A has previously been criticised for donating large sums of money to anti-LGBT+ groups and opposing equal marriage.
In 2012, it emerged that the chain had donated millions of dollars to anti-gay groups, including the Family Research Council, ‘gay cure’ group Exodus International and Focus on the Family.
CEO Dan Cathy later confirmed the company was opposed to marriage equality and “guilty as charged” for backing “the biblical definition of a family.”
This month, it was revealed Chick-fil-A reportedly donated over $1.8 million to organisations with an anti-LGBT+ record in 2017.
The restaurant company, which has around 2,000 branches in the US, gave $1,653,416 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in 2017, according to US news website ThinkProgress.
The publication reports that Chick-fil-A also donated $6,000 to the Paul Anderson Youth Home and $150,000 to the Salvation Army in the same year.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a conservative Christian sports ministry, requires staff to abide to a “sexual purity” policing, which forbids all “homosexual acts.”
